The body of University of Pennsylvania student Blaze Bernstein was discovered in a California park and his death is being investigated as a homicide, authorities announced yesterday. Bernstein went missing while home on winter break and officials had been searching for him for several days.

The 19-year-old’s body was discovered Tuesday afternoon near a park in the Foothill Ranch area of Lake Forest, California, according to a statement from the Orange County sheriff’s department.

Bernstein met with a friend last Tuesday and the two drove to Borrego Park, witnesses told the sheriff’s department, according to ABC News. Blaze Bernstein apparently got out of the car about 11 p.m. and went into the park, the sheriff’s department said. That’s when he vanished and was never heard from again.

Results of an autopsy are expected to be announced soon.

Investigators said Bernstein walked into the darkness at Borrego Park — which is next door to Foothill Ranch Elementary School, which he attended — and disappeared, while his friend waited back in the car, according to a report from CBS Los Angeles.

“This one I tell you, I do find a little bit odd after speaking with the family,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Don Vogt said last week. “Blaze isn’t someone that wouldn’t talk to his parents, wouldn’t reach out to them unless he had a reason.”

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